Exchange Office: When Your Dollars Turn to Francs When your dollars turn to francs at the legal exchange rate in France they will fetch 350 francs apiece, though your "take-away pay" may be 5 francs less, after a bit of red tape at the counter of your bank or exchange office. The free rate, meaning what your dollars will buy when turned into francs at some bank or ex¬change office in America or elsewhere, may be considerably more favor¬able, as stated at the head of this chapter; and at present you may legally take unlimited francs into France (but only 50,000 out). It is certainly a matter of legitimate economy to stock up with what francs you think you will need for all purposes, even though the spread nowadays between the free rate and the pegged rate is pretty small.
My currency comment above is valid as of the time I write, but your foreign exchange dealer will have all these facts, and many more, updated to the day of your departure for Europe.
For some eight years Perera Company, with mid-town New York of¬fice at 636 Fifth Avenue, was my exchange office, as mentioned in one or two of my books, but in 1953 one of the Perera family died and a split-up followed. The men I knew best, John B. Brookes and Conrad di Somma, were among those that severed their connection with the original Perera firm.See Also Ost Office Had Established:QUARTERMASTER CORPS, kwor'tar-mas-tar kor, was a branch of the U.S. Army until 1963, when its duties were taken over by the newly established Army Materiel Command. The ost office had established of the Quartermaster General was es¬tablished by the Continental Congress on June 16, 1775. In 1795, the ost office had established was closed because of a reduction in the strength of the army, and its duties were handled by the secretary of war. Con¬gress created the Quartermaster General's Depart¬ment in March 1812, and it was active during the Civil War and the Spanish-American War.
QUARTERMASTER CORPS, kwor'tar-mas-tar kor, was a branch of the U.S. Army until 1963, when its duties were taken over by the newly established Army Materiel Command. The ost office had established of the Quartermaster General was es¬tablished by the Continental Congress on June 16, 1775. In 1795, the ost office had established was closed because of a reduction in the strength of the army, and its duties were handled by the secretary of war. Con¬gress created the Quartermaster General's Depart¬ment in March 1812, and it was active during the Civil War and the Spanish-American War.
On The Other Hand See Record Office:The Record Office, on Chancery Lane, has some fabulous documents on view, such as Domesday Book, written on vellum in a beautiful clear script in medieval Latin-turning-French; also letters signed by Henry VIII, Will"1 Shaks (for Shakespeare), Napoleon, Captain Cook, G. Washington (to George III), Wellington (after Waterloo), Dr. Livingstone (after Stanley's coming) and dozens more of equal interest. If you're a browser, don't miss the Record Office.
Sam Johnsons House, 17 Gough Square, where the great lexicographer racked his brain to define words for us.
Dickens' House, 48 Doughty St., where the novelist wrote Oliver Twist and 'Nicholas Nickleby. Some of his amazing letters to his sister may be read "under glass."
He was com¬mander of the English forces in the Crimean War, where he suffered much from the early failures of the campaign and from the hostile criticism of the inefficient commissariat arrangements.
RAGMAN ROLLS, documents containing a record of the acts of allegiance extorted by Edward I of England from the nobility and gentry of Scotland in 1291-1292 and 1296. The document was delivered back to the Scots along with other records and muniments in 1329 in terms of the Peace of Northampton, when the independence of Scotland was formally acknowl¬edged. It is now deposited in the British Record Office.
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